but a tremendous increase in the number of chinese products coming into the united states since 1985. but now look at what we're sending over there. u.s. products in 1985 were about even with chinese, and now not nearly as much. it's far behind. what can a president do about that. they could put some kind of a trade barrier in place to stop the chinese imports, but if they did that, china would probably respond with trade barriers to u.s. products going there. they could say to the u.s. companies, you can't go over there and take advantage of the cheap labor. if that happens, the companies are at a greater disadvantage on the world market. you have to remember, china has been buying a lot of u.s. debt. if china stopped doing that, it could make it hard for the government to borrow money to keep operating. >> professor of economic policies at the university of california irvine, director of the documentary film "death by china." that was a fantastic analysis by tom foreman. and there are more dimensions to this trade situation. flat-out government subsidies of an industrial complex the